Well, hi there, this is Cliff.
Well, I don't know about you, but right now I'm pretty excited,
because I get that way any time I make a record.
It's an exciting business.
Well, cutting a disc which may even sell a million copies or more,
just think of it.
But this one's different.
Here I'm going to get a chance to talk to you direct
and say exactly what I like for as long as the running time lasts.
Yeah, I hope you're excited too, for this one's special.
This one's for us.
I get lots of letters telling me what you think about me.
I almost never get a chance to say what I think about you.
So I'm going to do that right now.
When I walk out on stage nowadays, well, I'm pretty nervous.
Almost as nervous as the very first time I ever appeared in public.
Some folks say there's invisible glass between an audience and the performer.
And the performer's first and, of course, biggest task is to shatter it.
I guess I'm lucky, though, for it's never been that way for me.
Right away that sort of great, big, friendly welcome comes rolling up and I'm off.
Well, eyes usually get drawn to one particular face to sing to,
and after a few bars it's pretty easy.
I can't see much, just a glint of high-lit hair as the head turns, maybe,
or a flash of a smile, or even the glitter of eyes, but that's plenty.
The wonderful girl who cured my shakes could have been you in the past,
or it could be you in the future.
Whoever it is, my sincere and most grateful thanks to you all.
Well, Tommy got a little action around here, so let's have some laughs.
How about the time I made a personal call to my manager from out of London and had to give my name?
Well, there was a pause, and then the operator asked,
''The Cliff Richard?''
So I said, ''Well, yeah.''
And she said, ''Well, sing something.''
Oh, I couldn't read her. I said, ''Oh, dead embarrassed.''
''Go on,'' she said. ''All the girls in the exchange area are fans of yours,
and they're all prugging, all ready to listen.''
Well, I might add that I felt a perfect knit, but I did warble a few bars of ''Living Doll,''
and the girls started to join in at the other end.
All at once there was this very, very dead silence again.
Then a very cold voice said, ''This is the supervisor.
Your call will be put through at once, Mr. Richard.''
I guess she was an Adam Faith fan somehow.
Well, I wish the shadows had been on this disc. They're always a laugh to have around.
But would they have let me talk this long without interrupting?
I don't think so.
Well, sometimes they even speak for me, though, like Bruce.
Well, he was standing at a stage doorkeeper's cubbyhole one night, and the phone rang.
Well, Bruce answered, and what he described later as a ''chick'' asked for me.
Bruce tried to sound like the doorman and informed her coldly that
Mr. Richard never accepted calls from girls while he was at the theatre.
No matter how attractive, how charming, he never speaks to them, says Bruce.
The voice replies just as coldly, ''Oh, I think he'll speak to me. I'm his mother.''
Mum's never let Bruce forget that. She laughed herself silly over it.
Well, all this has been great fun, and I've enjoyed every minute, so I sure hope you have, too.
I've loved being on this launching, and I wish loads of luck to Serenade.
Well, seeing as the last words have to be mine, may I make them yours, Cliff.